What makes a family?

Yes, what does make a family? Is it simply a group of parents and a one or more children? Is it a group of people that you feel ‘close’ to even if they are not related? What actually does constitute a ‘family’?

Well, definitely, a family is parents and children – that’s a given. You literally can not divorce your blood-related family – no matter what you think. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t distance yourself from someone in your family that is toxic to you – but you can never totally and completely cut yourself off – they are ‘in your blood’ for life. It’s how you walk in this knowledge that determines your well-being.

And then we have friends that are as close as family should be. Maybe that best girlfriend that knows more about you than your own sister. That friend that has been there for you through thick and think, the good, the bad and the ugly. That friend whom you can never imagine your life without. Can we consider that friend ‘family’? Or is it just wishful thinking.

Basically, the question is – who is family? Well, it comes down to personal decisions. While we are born into a family – there is nothing to say we can’t add to that family (or subtract). But let’s never forget that the Holy One picked out the family that you were born into – He doesn’t make mistakes. So pick yourself up, re-evaluate where you are at, who you are with, and go forward from there.